Is the Google Nexus 4 still a good buy? Will it age well?

I need a new phone asap and I don't want to commit to a new contract at this time. The Nexus 4 at $249 is very attractive to me. However I realize that it is at the end of its generation and the next generation Nexus 5 is coming out soon. I know the limitations of the Nexus 4 (average camera, no LTE, no expandable memory, meh battery life). However none of those things matter to me and are not high on my list of required features.

Questions:
1. If I get the Nexus 4 now, will it continue to get software updates two years from now?
2. Will it age well? Or could it slow down and start lagging over time like some of the other Android phones I have experienced (Captivate, GS3)?
3. How have the other Nexus devices fared over time? Do they get progressively slow down like the iPhones do with each software update?
4. When the Nexus 5 lands will it be $249 or will it be the regular $349? If it is sold at $249, I'd be slightly disappointed, I guess. But I do need a new phone in the next few days.

I need a new phone asap and I don't want to commit to a new contract at this time. The Nexus 4 at $249 is very attractive to me. However I realize that it is at the end of its generation and the next generation Nexus 5 is coming out soon. I know the limitations of the Nexus 4 (average camera, no LTE, no expandable memory, meh battery life). However none of those things matter to me and are not high on my list of required features.

Questions:
1. If I get the Nexus 4 now, will it continue to get software updates two years from now?
2. Will it age well? Or could it slow down and start lagging over time like some of the other Android phones I have experienced (Captivate, GS3)?
3. How have the other Nexus devices fared over time? Do they get progressively slow down like the iPhones do with each software update?
4. When the Nexus 5 lands will it be $249 or will it be the regular $349? If it is sold at $249, I'd be slightly disappointed, I guess. But I do need a new phone in the next few days.

1. Nobody knows for sure but it probably will still be getting updates since it is a nexus phone. Unless something new comes out which the nexus 4 can't handle (which most likely won't happen).

2. This thing will not slow down. No matter what you do, you won't be able to get it to lag. People who got their nexus 4 when it was first released have said it still runs as smooth as when they got it.

3. I honestly don't know the answer to this. Someone else could come on and tell you.

4. We don't know this either, but I highly doubt they'd sell the nexus 5 for $249. I'm guessing it'll be between 350 and 450 bucks.

Honestly you're safe getting this phone.. But haven't they run out of stock?

End of generation is depend on perspective here. If you compare specs nexus 4 will still be in top 10 percent smartphones!

1. Yes. Few years old nexus still gets it. It depends on hardware capabilities as well. So two years us no major deal. You will get software updates. Even if not - you can root it to be always updated.
2. That lagging is because of fact that manufacturer's put there own wrapping OS on top of vanilla Android.
3. Using since 8 months.. No worries. Still lightening fast.
4. You can only guess until it put on sale.

I need a new phone asap and I don't want to commit to a new contract at this time. The Nexus 4 at $249 is very attractive to me. However I realize that it is at the end of its generation and the next generation Nexus 5 is coming out soon. I know the limitations of the Nexus 4 (average camera, no LTE, no expandable memory, meh battery life). However none of those things matter to me and are not high on my list of required features.

Questions:
1. If I get the Nexus 4 now, will it continue to get software updates two years from now?
2. Will it age well? Or could it slow down and start lagging over time like some of the other Android phones I have experienced (Captivate, GS3)?
3. How have the other Nexus devices fared over time? Do they get progressively slow down like the iPhones do with each software update?
4. When the Nexus 5 lands will it be $249 or will it be the regular $349? If it is sold at $249, I'd be slightly disappointed, I guess. But I do need a new phone in the next few days.

I just went through this exact same line of questioning... here was my thoughts...

1. Yes, Nexus devices seem to get support for some time, approximately a year after discontinuance, so you should get another year +/- a few months of updates officially, but this hardware is well known and well documented, I assume that independent development will continue for at least 2-3 years.
2. I can't answer this, I have never had this issue with previous phones and I have had several android devices, although I flash and factory default a lot.
3. Same as #2, I haven't had the Nexus long enough to answer specifically to this though.
4. I would be more inclined to think the Nexus 5 will be slightly higher than previous models, probably $399-$499 depending on model/features/memory, but with Google you just never know.

If you need a device now, this is still a good buy and the phone will likely serve most people well. I love mine, it is my favorite phone so far in my history of Android devices/

Questions:
1. If I get the Nexus 4 now, will it continue to get software updates two years from now?
2. Will it age well? Or could it slow down and start lagging over time like some of the other Android phones I have experienced (Captivate, GS3)?
3. How have the other Nexus devices fared over time? Do they get progressively slow down like the iPhones do with each software update?
4. When the Nexus 5 lands will it be $249 or will it be the regular $349? If it is sold at $249, I'd be slightly disappointed, I guess. But I do need a new phone in the next few days.

Without stepping on festinator's toes there...

Considering the Galaxy Nexus still gets updates, it's a safe bet.

It should -- it's very unlikely that it'll slow, especially as Google seems to be trying to optimize the Android code.

Note that the bloatware (carrier or manufacturer) is what seems to slow the phones down; take your S3, wipe it and install CyanogenMod ROM (as close to 'standard' Android as you can get), and watch yourself have a new, lag-free phone.

There are many guys still rocking the Galaxy Nexus that are quite happy with its performance, and this is now two years after it was introduced.

Google's approach seems to be different towards their devices than Apple's -- remember, they're not so much into selling newer devices as they are into making sure there are as many devices out there as possible.

Another thing to note is hardware specs... the first Nexus was not bad for its day, the second was better, then the Galaxy Nexus eclipsed them all with superb hardware, until the N4 came in with overkill (2GB, quad-core CPU, Adreno 320 GPU, etc.). The sheer number of cores alone ought to satisfy most up-and-coming OSes.

We don't know what the price point will be, although it's a safe bet you'll be looking at $350 +/-.

Also, if the past is an indicator -- people were waiting months to order the N4 because demand outstripped supply, although it may be different this time -- are you willing to wait until Jan. to be able to order your phone? The new Nexus hasn't even been announced yet (figure late October).

I had both my and my wife's S2 (T989 variant) on CyanogenMod (running smooth, I might add) and were going to be buying the N5 sometime in March, as we were still on contract, but when this offer came up, we jumped immediately to it -- I fully expect to be using my N4 18 months from now, running Android 4.5 Lemonhead (or whatever they're going to be calling the new version). Take that for what it's worth...

Also, if you take care of the N4, there's no reason you couldn't sell it in 4 - 6 months for, easily, $200 and get yourself the new model, at a loss of maybe $50... (make sure to keep all the boxes and goodies).

[*]Note that the bloatware (carrier or manufacturer) is what seems to slow the phones down; take your S3, wipe it and install CyanogenMod ROM (as close to 'standard' Android as you can get), and watch yourself have a new, lag-free phone.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I am interested in getting the GS3 up and running again. It is sitting in my desk drawer. I am a complete noob when it comes to rooting phones and flashing ROMs. I tried reading some stuff on XDA developers forum, but honestly I didn't have the time to learn everything in detail.

Is there a "Flashing CynaogenMod ROM for Dummies" guide or a one click option somewhere? I can't spend more than 30 mins to 1 hour doing this. Can it be done in that amount of time without any prior knowledge? Any links to such resources are welcome!

Funny enough, I just wrote this in another thread. I bought my Nexus 4 this past February, and if I had to do it all over again, I would buy the N4 without question or hesitation.

No device is ever "absolutely" future-proof. From what I understand, Android 5.0 will be akin to 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 in that it will have optimizations to make it run as smooth as possible. They are constantly figuring out new or improved ways of doing things and that means we see performance improvements on a regular basis.

Worst case, you can always wipe your phone and set it up from scratch, assuming there was something really screwed up on your phone. But these are really solid devices, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm not willing to bet when or if there will be a Nexus 5, much less the MSRP. Now that we have pure Android editions of popular phones without carrier bloatware, along with the recent release of Google's Moto X, who knows if Google will develop new Nexus phones? Maybe the Nexus product line will evolve from phone only > phone & tablet > tablet only. Maybe Google will focus on sea change Android devices, and let Motorola handle the now incremental advances in smart phones. Who knows? I don't, or I would be doing much better in the stock market.

With Google's efforts to move software updates to Google Play rather than through OTA, having the latest and greatest version of Android is not as big a deal as it was in the days of Jelly Bean and ICS but there will still be a need for developers to mess with the newest version of the OS. I have a feeling Google will continue to produce a Nexus phone, simply because it's the only device they have complete control over (even the Google Play Edition phones get slightly delayed updates). It's the closest thing to a reference phone for Android that exists, so there will always be demand for it for this reason.

Nothing wrong with the Nexus 4 except lack of LTE really and a mediocre camera. Other than that there is nothing really keeping it from long years of use. If you don't care about cutting edge data speeds or don't need the perfect camera then there is nothing it can't really do.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I am interested in getting the GS3 up and running again. It is sitting in my desk drawer. I am a complete noob when it comes to rooting phones and flashing ROMs. I tried reading some stuff on XDA developers forum, but honestly I didn't have the time to learn everything in detail.

Is there a "Flashing CynaogenMod ROM for Dummies" guide or a one click option somewhere? I can't spend more than 30 mins to 1 hour doing this. Can it be done in that amount of time without any prior knowledge? Any links to such resources are welcome!

Yeah, go here:GalaxyS3Root.com - How to Root Galaxy S3, custom ROMs, tips, and more!
They have excellent step-by-step instructions -- you can read them (or watch them) a few times before doing anything, plus it gives you an idea of what you need to do. They seem to favor using ODIN to flash a recovery (the trickiest part of 'rooting'), which is great because it's so simple.

Once you see how it's done, it becomes rather easy. For me, after reading the step-by-step, I knew what I needed from s2root.com (s3root.com for you), which was really Odin (it's a small file). I downloaded Cyanogen from the official website (CyanogenMod | Android Community Rom based on Jelly Bean), grabbed the latest Gapps from Cyanogen's link, and grabbed ClockWorkMod's recovery for my phone from their official site (ClockworkMod ROM Manager - Recoveries) -- the latter I did because I have access to a Linux machine (or a Mac), so I was able to tar archive the latest recovery image (you merely rename the .img file to "recovery.img" and tar it up so you can deliver it to your phone through ODIN). If you don't have access, you ought to be able to install s3root's recovery tar archive and go from there (it can be upgraded later through their app).

So, since theyre out of N4s i might get a couple more bucks for my S3 j/k. Im holding on to my N4 for a while. It really does suit my needs very well. Even if its nearly a year old its still faster/smoother then a lot of the stuff out there.

I'm not sure why one would describe the N4s camera as mediocre, but whatever. Looked at from a certain point of view, anything that isn't a good DSLR is garbage.

Would it be nice if the N4 was a legitimate LTE device? Sure. But when one can stream Netflix, Pandora, Google Play, and the like without a hitch, I'm thinking that "deficiency" isn't really much of one.